Remembering six unique CityBeat cover stories from 2014

Some were news stories, yes, but this
past year of work also happened to include explorations of the strange
world of reality TV, the questionable practices of a group of for-profit
art show promoters and the wide world of ridesharing, along with more
straightforward examinations of complicated urban issues.

There are plenty of good reasons to visit
the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky — maybe you like
animatronic dinosaurs (most people do) or your home-schooled kid is
acting like a real dick in class and needs to take a field trip.

As the days turn a way from Michael
Brown’s funeral, thus finally laying to rest his thrice-autopsied young
body, Ferguson, Missouri, is now — more than ever — ripe and ready for
the change that can carry this predominantly black and woefully
underemployed community forever forward.

Northside Community Council voted July 21
to create a needle exchange program in the neighborhood. The effort,
run by the Cincinnati Exchange Program, will start sometime in August
and operate from a van one day a week for three hours at a time. Planned
Parenthood will also participate, providing testing services for
diseases like HIV and hepatitis.

If Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
can convince the Ohio Statehouse to pass “Annie’s Law,” or HB 469, all
first-time DUI offenders wishing to drive during any probation will have
to install a breathalyzer machine in their car and pass it for the car
to start.

Cincinnati’s two remaining abortion facilities face uncertain futures

As the Ohio legislature continues to
narrow the eye of the needle abortion providers must thread to legally
provide services to women, the Cincinnati area’s two remaining clinics
face the threat of closure.

As public schools prepare for new national standards, critics across the political spectrum raise alarms

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush on June
16 made a trip to Cincinnati to speak at a fundraiser for the Republican
National Committee. As he entered the posh Cincinnati Club downtown, he
was confronted by protesters.

3CDC eyes first major project in OTR north of Liberty Street

The southern section of Vine Street in
Over-the-Rhine is a row of shiny glass facades, boutique shops and
start-ups. Nearby Washington Park has received an extensive facelift,
and other projects are popping up around the neighborhood.